CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The Columbia baseball team rallied from an 8-1 deficit in the bottom of the second but ultimately came up short by a 9-6 score in the front end of its two-game series at the University of Miami Tuesday night at Mark Light Field.

Columbia (2-10) recorded nine hits on the night while holding Miami (16-7) to eight.

The Lions were led once again by the bat of senior Alex Black, who went 3-for-5 with a trio of RBI and his second consecutive home run after homering in last night's game at UCF.

Eric Whaley (1-1) earned the win for Miami (16-7), letting up three runs on six hits and fanning five in five innings of work.

The Hurricanes held Columbia to a quick 1-2-3 inning in the first and went ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the frame by taking advantage of walks and a wild pitch.

Black cut the Lions’ deficit in half with a leadoff homer in the second, but Miami surged ahead with six runs in the bottom of the inning to take over, 8-1.

The Lions tacked on another two runs in the fourth to tighten the gap. Eric Williams drew a walk and advanced to second as Black singled to right field. Joey Falcone then reached first thanks to a Miami error and Aaron Silbar singled down the right field line, advancing Falcone into scoring position at third. David Vandercook topped off the inning with an RBI single, scoring Falcone to once again cut Columbia’s deficit in half, 6-3.

Miami recorded another run in the sixth, and Columbia responded with a two-run seventh inning to keep it a close game.

The Lions came through with an additional ninth-inning score with a two-out sacrifice fly by Enmanuel Cabreja to score Serena. However the Hurricanes called in Eric Nedeljkovic from the pen to close out the inning for the win.

Columbia and Miami will complete the two-game series tomorrow night at 6 p.m.